The Military Readiness Enhancement Act
H.R. 1246
The U.S. Military: Where It's Illegal for Gay People to Be Honest
"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass" — the current U.S. policy on gays in the military — is the only law in the country that forces people to be dishonest about their personal lives or be fired or possibly imprisoned. This discriminatory policy hurts military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers fighting overseas at risk. As recently stated by John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former supporter of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the lift of the ban is inevitable. "When that day comes, gay men and lesbians will no longer have to conceal who they are, and the military will no longer need to sacrifice those whose service it cannot afford to lose," Shalikashvili said.
The Military Readiness Enhancement Act remedies this discriminatory and unworkable policy and replaces "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" with a policy of non-discrimination. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., introduced MREA in the 109th U.S. House of Representatives by with 122 bipartisan co-sponsors. He reintroduced the bill (H.R. 1246) in the 110th Congress in February 2007 with 110 original co-sponsors.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Poses Exorbitant Costs to the Military and the Nation
- Nearly 800 specialists with critical skills have been fired from the U.S. military under DADT including 323 linguists, 55 of whom specialized in Arabic (Government Accountability Office report).
- At least 65,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans are already protecting our homeland (Urban Institute report). More than 10,000 have been discharged under DADT since the policy was implemented in 1993.
- American taxpayers have paid between $250 million and $1.2 billion to investigate, eliminate and replace qualified, patriotic service members who want to serve their country but can’t because expressing their sexual orientation violates DADT (GAO report). That money could be better spent on at least a dozen Blackhawk helicopters, armored plates for tanks and Humvees or Kevlar body armor for troops.
- U.S. military forces cannot afford to lose any troops who can do their job, as evidenced by recent call-ups of the Army Reserve.
Americans Support Allowing Gays and Lesbians to Serve Openly
The vast majority of Americans support the right of service members to serve openly and honestly, and the majority of service members are comfortable serving alongside gay and lesbian troops. In addition, numerous allies in the war on terror allow gays and lesbians to serve openly and proudly.
- Sixty-seven percent of civilians support allowing gays to serve openly (Annenberg 2004 survey). In 2003, Fox News reported 64 percent support, and the Gallup organization 79 percent, on a similar question.
- Nearly three in four troops (73 percent) say they are personally comfortable in the presence of gays and lesbians (Zogby International & the Michael D. Palm Center 2006 study).
- One in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan or Iraq knows a member of their unit who is gay. More than 55 percent of the troops who know a gay colleague said the presence of gays or lesbians in their unit is well-known by others (Zogby International). The DADT policy serves no purpose as troops already know and are comfortable serving alongside gays and lesbians.
- All published Pentagon studies, including the 1993 Rand Report, conclude that there should be no special restrictions on service by gay personnel.
- Twenty-four other nations, including Great Britain, Australia, Canada and Israel, already allow open service by gays and lesbians, and none of the 24 report morale or recruitment problems. Nine nations allowing open service have fought alongside American troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, 12 nations allowing open service fought alongside U.S. troops in Operation Enduring Freedom.
- Twenty-three of the 26 NATO nations allow gays and lesbians to serve openly and proudly. The United States, Turkey and Portugal are the only NATO nations that forbid gays and lesbians to serve openly in the armed services.
- Federal CIA, FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency and Secret Service agents all serve proudly as openly gay and lesbian personnel fighting the war on terrorism.
Countless gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans have served and will continue to serve in the U.S. military with distinction. The only question is whether they will have to lie about their sexual orientation to do so. Since enactment of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, numerous gay and lesbian troops have served openly while pending discharge with no effect on unit performance, readiness, cohesion or morale. Moreover, U.S. military personnel are already serving side-by-side with openly gay service members — with no identifiable negative effects — in and from countries throughout the world. Former Defense Secretary William Cohen agrees — the ban is discriminatory, and "We're hearing from within the military what we're hearing from within society — that we're becoming a much more open, tolerant society for diverse opinions and orientation." We must end this discriminatory policy sooner rather than later and ensure that the U.S. military can recruit and retain the best and the brightest troops regardless of their sexual orientation.
What is the Current Status of the Bill?
Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1246) on Feb. 28, 2007.
For more information, please contact legislation@hrc.org.
Last Updated: Saturday, August 25, 2007